Front-to-back member for beam type storage racks



Aug. 11, 1-970 1.. z. HALL 3,523,612

FRONT-TO-BACK MEMBER FOR BEAM TYPE STORAGE RACKS Filed Jan. 2. 1969 3Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

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' Aug. 11, 1-970 L. z HALL FRONT-TO-BACK MEMBER FOR BEAM TYPE STORAGERACKS Filed Jan. 2. 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. i6: Z //4//FRONT-'I'O-BACK MEMBER FOR BEAM TYPE STORAGE RACKS Filed Jan. 2, 1969 L.Z. HALL Aug. 11, 1970 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. A66 Z //d// UnitcdStates Patent 3,523,612 FRONT-TO-BACK MEMBER FOR BEAM TYPE STORAGE RACKSLee Z. Hall, Huntington Woods, Mich., assignor to Palmer-Shile Company,Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan f Filed Jan. 2, 1969, Ser. No.788,499 Int. Cl. A47b 9/00; A47f /10 US. Cl. 211-148 4 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE An adjustable beam type storage rack has front andrear posts and beams extending between adjacent front posts and adjacentrear posts. Members are provided extending from front to rear betweenbeams on the same level. These members are channel-shaped with theirheights tapering at both ends. Plates at the ends of the members engagethe webs of the beams and are attached thereto by bolts. The beams havea connected series of non-circular apertures for receiving the bolts,whereby the members may be adjusted in height to provide for eitherpallet loading or for decks varying in thickness.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relatesto adjustable beam storage racks of the type used in industrialinstallations for storing palletized loads, or miscellaneous merchandiseby means of decks.

Description of the prior art Conventional beam type industrial storageracks have front and rear posts, adjacent from posts being connected bybeams, the rear posts being connected by parallel beams. These beams arespaced apart a distance slightly less than the normal depth of pallets,a standard pallet depth being 48 inches. The pallets are constructed offlat boards which form a deck, cross pieces under these boards, andeither full or partial decking on the other side of the cross pieces.The conventional manner of placing these pallets on the beams is topermit them to overlap or extend beyond both the front and rear beams.

Sometimes, however, it is desired that the front or rear of the palletbe flush with its adjacent beam, and this requires careful placing, lestthe pallets fail to be fully supported by the beams. Moreover, it issometimes desired to 'use shallower pallets, for example, pallets with36 inch depths, on storage racks made for 48 inch pallets. Beam typestorage racks are also sometimes used for miscellaneous storage withoutpallets and this is done by placing decking such as plywood on thebeams.

For all these purposes, front-to-back members between the beams aredesired. Various constructions for frontto-back members have beendevised but they do not offer the advantages of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the claimed invention, afront-to-back member is fabricated of a single channel shaped pieceformed without welding. The outer portions of this memher are taperedand the ends are bent over to form end plates. A series of connecteddiamond shaped apertures are formed in these end plates to receive thesquare shank of a bolt which also passes through an aperture in the webof the beam. The construction is therefore such that the height of thefront-to-back member relative to the top surface of the beams may beadjusted from an upper flush position to positions below the upperposition. The front-to-back members may be used to support pallets or3,523,612 Patented Aug. 11, 1970 ice BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a beam type storage rackincorporating the front-to-back members of this invention, two storagebays being shown;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of one of the storage bays taken along theline 2--2 of FIG. 1 and showing four front-to-back members therein;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the storage rack;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of one of the beams;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view in elevation taken along theline 55 of FIG. 2 and showing the construction of one of thefront-to-back members and its connection to the beams, the front-to-backmember being in its uppermost or flush position;

FIG. 6 is a partial top plan view of the front-to-back member of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an end elevational view of the front-to-back member takenalong the line 77 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a partial view similar to FIG. 5 but showing the front-to-backmember in a lower position for accommodating a plywood or similar deck;and

FIG. 9 is an end elevational view taken along the line 9-9 of FIG. 3 andshowing the position of the bolt with respect to the end plate of thefront-to-back member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 show anindustrial type of adjustable beam storage rack generally indicated at21. This rack has a plurality of pairs of front posts 22 and rear posts23 connected by cross pieces 24 and diagonal braces 25. A plurality ofbeams generally indicated at 26 extend between adjacent front posts, andbeams generally indicated at 27 extend between adjacent rear posts. Thecross-sectional shape of these beams is seen in FIG. 5, each beamcomprising upper and lower horizontal flanges 28 and 29, a vertical web31, and inclined web portions 32 and 33 connecting web 31 with the upperand lower flanges respectively. A pair of connecting members 34 and 35are secured to the ends of each beam 26 or 27, these connecting m'embershaving a plurality of vertically spaced teeth 36 receivably by outwardlypressed vertically spaced slotted portions 37 on posts 22 and 23. Thisstorage rack construction is shown in more detail in US. Pat .No.3,194,408 issued to Kimpton on July 13, 1965.

The front-to-back member of this invention is indicated generally at 38and is preferably fabricated of a unitary metal blank. The member isbasically channel shaped, having a central vertical web 39, an upperflange 41 and a lower flange 42. Flanges 41 and 42 are horizontal alongtheir major extent, but the opposite ends thereof are tapered downwardlyas indicated at 43 and 44 for flange 41 and 45 and 46 for flange 42.Assuming that the blank is originally of a rectangular shape, this willresult in flanges 41 and 42 being wider at the ends, as seen in FIG. 6.p

The central portion of the blank which is to form member 38 extendsbeyond flanges 41 and 42 and is bent over to form vertical end plates 47and 48. These end plates overlap the edges of flanges 41 and 42 and arespaced apart a distance equal to that between webs 31 of facing beams 26and 27, as seen in FIG. 5. The total height of member 38 is considerablyless than the height of beams 26 and 27 so that the front-to-backmembers may enter into the space between the beam flanges and engage thebeam webs.

Each end plate 47 and 48 is provided with a series of interconnecteddiamond shaped apertures, five such apertures being shown in theillustrated embodiment and numbered 49, 51, 5,2, 53 and 54 from top tobottom as seen in FIG. 7. Beams 26 and 27 are likewise provided withdiamond shaped apertures 55 in spaced relation along their webs.

The front-to-back member is mounted by using two bolts 56 and 57 withsquare shanks of a length equal to the combined thicknesses of end plate47 or 48 and web 31, as seen in FIG. 5. The height of beam 38 withrespect to top flanges 28 of the beams is determined by which aperture49 through 54 receives bolts 56 and 57. If it is desired that the top ofmember 38 be flush with flanges 28, the lowermost aperture 54 will beused, as seen in FIG. 7. This position will normally be the proper onefor storing pallets. The bottom members of the pallet will normally runat right angles to the front to back members, as shown by the pallet indot-dash lines generally indicated at 58 in FIG. 5. These pallets arenormally constructed with upper boards 59 to form the deck, cross pieces61, and bottom boards 62 forming either a complete or partial deck.

FIG. illustrates a pallet 58 of lesser depth than the distance betweenbeams 26 and 27 so that front-to-back members 28 will support thepallets. The front-to-back members could also, of course, be used withpallets of greater depth. In such cases, the pallets could be storedeither flush with the front or rear beams or extending beyond thesebeams without danger of dropping through because of midjudgment duringthe storage maneuvering.

Bolts 56 and 57 are secured in place by nuts 63 and by washers 64 whichwill prevent any yielding of the sides of apertures 49-54. Theoverlapping nature of apertures 49-54 will mean that less material willbe removed from end plates 48 than would otherwise be the case.Apertures 55 will be placed close to the neutral axis of beams 26 and 27so that any reduction in the capacity of the beams will be minimized.

If it is desired to provide a deck between and flush with beams 26 and27, the positions of front-to-back members 38 will be lowered as shownin FIGS. 8 and 9. For

example, apertures 49 through 54 could be at one-quarter beam typestorage rack having front and rear posts, a front beam connected betweenadjacent front posts and a rear beam connected between adjacent rearposts, a channel-shaped member having a vertical web and horizontalupper and lower flanges, main portions of said flanges being parallel,the outer portions being tapered toward each other, vertical end plateson said member overlapping the edges of said flanges, a plurality ofvertically spaced apertures in said end plates, apertures in said beams,and bolts passing through said beam apertures and receivable by any ofsaid vertically spaced end plate apertures, whereby the height of saidfront-to-back member with respect to said beams may be adjusted, one ofsaid end plate apertures being such that when it is received by saidbolts,

the uppersurface of said front-to-back member will be flush with thetops of said beams.

2. The combination according to claim 1, said front-toback member beingformed of a unitary blank with the flanges bent from the web of thebeam, the web extending beyond the flanges and being bent over to formthe end plates.

3. The combination according to claim 1 said apertures beinginterconnected and diamond-shaped, said bolts having square shanks.

4. The combination according to claim 1, the spacing between said endplate apertures being equal to the differences between standard plywoodthicknesses, whereby the end plates may be used to support plywooddecking between said beams.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,048,212 7/1936 Goulooze 108-1443,142,386 7/1964 Skubic 211-148 3,194,408 7/1965 Kimpton 211-1773,268,089 8/1966 Hall 211-153 3,463,325 8/1969 Zagotta et al 211-148FOREIGN PATENTS 663,326 5/1963 Canada.

RAMON S. BRITTS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

